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Bob was a personal friend of mine. I rode in one of his boats and it did great. I was going to have him help me put my airboat together... Before he passed. It sits to this day. Talking to him before he passed he seemed to know how to put them together. He built several and I know of at least one of them that was in the Arctic Ocean and then up the Kavik. I would buy without worrying about the quality.

So jumped into this project last week picked up a gen6 marine 454 that runs well tore the rigging down going to redo the cage and rigging out of aluminum going to do a raised cab new to airboating. Not new to boating or fab work do airboating like weight in the rear or more of balance front to back want to built it right the first time. My hull is 17 feet by 8.5 on the gunnels and about 7 on the bottom running a 2:1 ch3 drive with a 80inch whirlwind psr prop in a power shift hub Attachment 93146

My first airboat the builder put the engine and fuel tanks too far back. When I came off step the back end would drop. If the water was shallow the boat would hit rocks or come to a abrupt stop in sand.
Water would come over the transom in deep water if it was not for the back being covered I would have sunk my boat several times.

In order to find the sweet spot I put the boat in the water with full fuel tanks and move the complete engine and prop around before bolting it down. Don't forget to leave some wiggle room.

I also had a trim tab that too help balance a heavy load and if I have a head wind I drop the bow and it would reduce the amount of fuel I burn.

Forgot to mention Southern airboats forum is the place to go for airboat information.

This may not sound important now but once the boat is finish, to maximize performance you may need to adjust the angle of the prop to hull so design the engine mounts so they can be adjusted.

Find all the leaks in the bottom of the hull by filling it with water before add UHMW.

Things to consider when building the cage. Most builders do not do a lot of research on the rudders or do not know what question to asked, You may find this helpful. The distance between the rudder the prop, and transom also the distance between rudders will effect turning. The pivot point on the rudders will effect the amount of strength it will take to move the rudders.